May 18, 2010

In the battle between Xtina’s titantic, firehose voice and the 2010 zeitgeist–in the persons of Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and now Le Tigre, whose songwriting shows up on Aguilera’s newest, “I Hate Boys” [cancel that: see below]–her singular bellow is winning handily, but that’s not a bad thing. Regardless of what you think of her, recognize that it takes a strong artist indeed to make Kathleen Hanna sound like window-dressing. “Together we tailored themes and specific references to her personality and image,” is how Le Tigre explained writing for Xtina, back in February, “but found a ton of common ground in our aim to make upbeat danceable tracks celebrating female friendship, strength, and of course, PARTYING.” The first two, definitely; the third, well–if you can brave a scene anything like the one in her “Not Myself Tonight” video, you are a braver human than we are. [Stereogum]